Florrie's new EP is finally here. You can stream it now on her website
and buy it on the iTunes in your country.
Labels: Florrie
Bright Light in his new video A New Word To Say
Rush over to Idolator to read my piece on Bright Light Bright Light, where you can hear the premier of an epic album track, Feel It. did a bit of an edit for them, so here are some additional questions and fleshed out from Rod, who is releasing one of THE pop records of the 2012 on June 4 in the UK and June 25 in America...
You collaborate a lot, with artists like Del Marquis of Scissor Sisters and some amazing remixers. Give me some from your dream list.
I'd love to do something with Kate Bush, she's a huge favourite of mine, and I'd love to collaborate visually with David Lynch or John Cameron Mitchell, as Twin Peaks / Hedwig & The Angry Inch respectively were big events in my life. I'd also love to work with Royksopp, Kelis or Simian Mobile Disco. What's been great about the work I've done so far is that I have met some brilliant musicians, so collaboration comes along organically sometimes, like for the Blueprints EP [on iTunes US] where my friends Sound Of Arrows, Sunday Girl, Del Marquis and Allison from The Pierces all lent their vocal talents. Collaboration is one of my favourite things about making music as for me music is all about connection.
The remixes for Waiting For The Feeling are fantastic. You have our mutual friend Vinny Vero doing a mix and you also brought back the epic 90's remix team Trouser Enthusiasts for a long mix that is quite majestic and Bond theme-y. I know you loved them for years, so what was it like to hear this entirely new version of your song?
I cannot explain how huge a fan I was of the Trouser Enthusiasts production and remixes back in the day, so when Ian Masterson [one half of the mix team, along with David Green] agreed to do a remix for me I was beyond excited. When he finished it, he invited me round to listen to it, and… I totally lost myself for the 9 minutes and almost forgot it was my song. It was AMAZING. It's so epic and so, so overwhelming that someone has done that for me…
The video for Waiting For The Feeling really hits a new level of style for you visually...
I love the colours. There are little nods to Beetlejuice, one of my favorite films. Alun Davies chose a really gorgeous color palette for the video, and Justine Josephs the stylist found some incredible clothes. The video's playing around with the idea of waiting - that being on hold - and what type of connections you can have; physical or emotional. I really like how the force of catching or throwing a ball is like being hit with, or releasing emotion. It was a lot of fun to make.
There is no mega record label behind this production.How did you craft such a big professional sounding record on such a lean budget?
I make it work. Part of the reason the album has taken a little while to come out is because I've had to finance it… not in a "get your tiny violin" way, but I had to budget, and fundraise, and plan. Although to me it just seemed natural to do that, as it's my creative project, so it just seemed like the obvious thing to do. I don't believe in doing anything by half, what's the point? Especially for something pop. I don't think you have to go all out visually, or all out stage wise, to be in a great outfit - I know lots of bands who have simple stage set ups but still amaze me - but for this particular project I had an aesthetic I was interested in, so wanted to really push for it.
What should music lovers do on a trip to London, Rod?
Visit Berwick Street for the independent record shops, go to Rough Trade East and have a coffee while they eye up all the vinyl they have, and definitely stick East (London) for a night out as there are some great club nights... People in London work hard and play hard, and my FAVOURITE thing about London is that you can go clubbing on a Tuesday night to a full room that just wants to dance, have a great night, then everyone gets up the next day and carries on. It's brilliant. There are bars like Dalston Superstore that straddle being a bar and a club, and there are more underground places like Vogue Fabrics that are solely a club. There's a lot of fun to be had.
Club nights seem like such a cultural force there.
There is definitely a community around club nights. Lots of us DJ swap, so we guest at each other's night, which is great as it creates a real sense of co-habitation and we get to swap music tips, geek out a little, and make the experience a lot friendlier. I run a 90s night, Another Night with my friend, and am just starting Comfortable Shoes, a gay indie disco, with my friend Jen Long from BBC Radio 1.
You clearly dig a mashup- whose tunes have you mashed with your music?
I made two mashup versions of my record for DJing out and for my favorite blogs, mixing my tunes with artists like BBillie Ray Martin, Britney Spears, Kylie, Brandy & Monica and Corona - all artists whose songs have an incredible sense of melody. I'm a sucker for a killer melody, that's something that is most important for me when I listen to music. A great topline always slays me.
and the latest, with Whitney Houston...
__________________________
Make Me Believe In Hope is out June 4 digitally via iTunes UK, June 25 on iTunes US or in multiple formats via Rod's shop. Full band album launch in London [tickets] 13th June / DJ Party [free guestlist] 8th June.
If you live in America, you can check out my short review of the album in the June/July issue of Instinct at the finest newstands near you. 5 stars! And don't forget to follow Bright Light x2 and me on Twitter!
Labels: Bright Light x2
That's the Andy Warhol polaroid-esque cover of Florrie's last independent
release, the new EP Late. It's out via iTunes on May 31st.
Tracklist: Shot You Down, I'm Gonna Get You Back, Every Inch, To The End
The full story here.
Labels: Florrie
The ubiquitous Calvin Harris remixes Florence + The Machine's stunning born-be-a-single Spectrum:
Spectrum is out July 8.
Labels: Florence
Teaser for Bright Light Bright Light's Make Me Believe In Hope, out June 4.
My review - 5 stars! - in the summer issue of Instinct Magazine, out any day.
Order the album here and now.
Labels: Bright Light x2
Scene: Big Shanty roller rink, Kennesaw, Georgia, 1979. I am rolling around in circles, no more than ten years old, when Donna Summer's single Dim All The Lights comes on. The song has a hazy, laid back intro - it sounds like a ballad - but then she hits this endless note at about :38 seconds in and it revs right up into heaven. I close my eyes and just glide along, transported away to some future I did not yet know.
The grand irony of pop music is the notion of disco/dance music as lesser, “lite” music. She loves you yeah yeah yeah is fine, London Calling is fine, but the orgasmic 17 minutes of Love To Love You Baby is not. This is history rewritten. Follow the timeline and you’ll see that disco was, in its own way, a rebellion (against punk music), except that the punks in question weren’t white. The disco denizens were black, Latino - not yet merged into “Blatino” - and largely gay. I am not the first to note that, before Andy and Liza took over Studio 54, disco was the sound of the disenfranchised. Donna Summer was unapologetically - for awhile, anyway - their queen.
So when people lump together Siouxsie, Chrissie and Debbie as the pop punks of their day, that’s not giving Donna Summer her rank. I think it was pretty rebellious of Donna to release a song that sounded like she was getting fucked twenty-five ways to Sunday on the studio floor, don’t you?
There wasn’t a hit-maker disco diva before Donna Summer. She was the pioneer, albeit one with a lucite cane and an orchid in her hair. Diana Ross, bored with her Michael Masser ballads, followed Donna, as did Streisand. Without Donna, there would be no Beyonce and, without Donna, Madonna would not have justified her love. Donna had a vision too, whether it was concept albums about the seasons or female archetypes, the hooker or the waitress.
You may not be old enough to know that disco so enraged straight white men that it drove them to burn records in stadiums. Seriously! Were these sports fans/rednecks trying to kill a subculture by burning gays, blacks and Latinos in effigy? I won’t go there. Donna Summer is much loved by many for creating music that set them free.
If you looked at me at 21, you could argue that I - white, middle class, male - didn’t ever need to be set free. In the early 90’s, I was out with my friend in a beat up old car (Cutlass Salon!). When we returned home, the opening part of Last Dance - the dewy “oooh ooh oohs” - was coming out of the boombox on the front seat. With one foot on the pavement, I said “Oh wait, I love this song. We can’t get out of the car yet.” So we listened to Donna: “I need you beside me, to guide me…” Then the beat kicked in and we just got out and danced beside the car. I’m sure someone driving by was like, “Oh, Jeeeeesus, what a fag.” Why do I care? I’m free too.
One of my favorite Donna songs, I Love You...
Last Dance
and Dim All The Lights
This post contains elements of a 2008 review I did of Donna's final - and excellent - album Crayons.
Labels: Donna Summer
Jimmy Somerville, one of our most underrated singer/songwriters, has been releasing EPs over the last few years without garnering much attention. He's about to release a new one - Solent - that I believe is the closest he's come to his brilliant 80's and 90's music.
Tracklisting:
1. Some Wonder
2. Kite (Siriusmo Remix)
3. Taken Away
4. Reconciliation
5. Why Did It End This Way?
6. Some Wonder (Felix Gauder Remix Full Length)
7. Taken Away (Fred Falke Remix Full Length) YES!
8. Some Wonder (John Winfield Remix)
Solent will be released worldwide on Monday, May 28th, except Germany (May 25th) and the USA (May 29th).
Xolondon's Top Ten Plus One Jimmy Somerville Songs
Labels: Somerville
What happens when two artists I love collide in a time machine? Bright Light Bright Light, whose album is out June 4, has remixed Darren Hayes' new single, Stupid Mistake into a 90's Moment. It debuted on Arjanwrites this morning...
And it's FREE
Because Darren never does anything half-assed, he even produced a new edit of the video for Stupid Mistake.
Labels: Bright Light x2, Darren Hayes
Mixtape: Just put your tights on, put your Vogue costume on.. .and that's your costume
0 Comments By xolondon on 5/13/12 at 7:39 PM.
I've been on a mini break from blogging for the last week. Sometimes you just need a lay down. Or a lay, haha. Anyway, here's a few tidbits piling up in my disco drenched brain:
Truth Or Dare has been re-released on BluRay and DVD. Check Holiday and others. What a classic! I have never owen it because I was waiting for a special editions, which this is not. No added scenes, nada. Somebody fire Guy Oseary please; Madonna's iconography is not going as it should be.
You can preview the debut album from Bright Light Bright Light NOW at iTunes UK. My review of it for Instinct Magazine is on stands in the US any day now. 5 stars. Meanwhile, check Rod's Soundcloud for lots of free mixes/mash-ups and keep an ear cocked Monday, May 14 for something special.
Rod's earlier single Disco Moment is featured on EQ's Poptronik compilation out now via Aztec Records. The excellent Bim and Van Go Lion are also on that mix.
Torr sent me a flickr link with loads of old cassette insert. I don't see many I had, but I do remember using Memorex all the time. I wonder if that company found something else to make!?
I did a piece for Idolator on Annie Lennox's Diva turning 20- and am also still slagging off terrible pop acts chosen by Mike Wass for the Pop Trash Addicts Panel. I am really slumming it with that one! [I kid]
Trashy Mike also did an interview with that hottie troubadour Jay Brannan. I am too mature to mention here that Jay karaokes while holding a hard pen*s as a mic in the movie Shortbus. Anyway, one funny (true?) pull quote from that piece: "If straight men had relationships with each other, it would never fucking work out."
I was prepped to dislike the new Florence + The Machine track Breath of Life due to bombast fatigue, but actually it's quite good. Check out this Making Of video - love how she dresses like a prim retro schoolteacher.
Ever au courant, Vogue has Jessie Ware. What do you think of her latest single, 100%? I am a bit mixed. Nice track, but not a slayer like Running.
I still love Penguin Prison. Here he is performing Don't Fuck With My Money at Coachella. He also sings the new song Hollywood with RAC. Check it here.
Watch a hilarious Beth Ditto filming with Gossip on their new video Perfect World (that song is a gem). Notice an odd deet: Beth says she is a singer in a band called The Gossip, but their official name is now Gossip. Anyhoo, I have a mad crush on the boi-ish Hannah from the group. She may downplay her feminine side, but she's quite a beauty. My friend Sergio did a cute video interview with the band over at Marie Claire.
Rufus Wainwright fans should get the version of his album with the DVD. It has a very nice short documentary and track by track that highlights everything I love about Rufus. My fave songs on the album are the title track, Jericho and the killer Sometimes You Need.
I don't like the new Fiona Apple song, Every Single Night. I know: shoot my sorry ass. A birdy tells me the album - can you says its full name? I cannot - is quite dark. All will be revealed.
Jury still out on the new Keane album. One thing for sure: there are a few songs on the deluxe (including the title track) that are better than album cuts. And the artwork is not as good as it should be.
Have already forgotten the new Alphabeat song - I love them, but it's beyond weak. A cute video almost saves it. Bring on the album.
What is gorge? Don't Stare At The Sun, a new song by Richard Hawley that, if it could be visualized, is bathed in an amber glow. A lovely song about his children.
I also can't stop playing the new Garbage song I Hate Love. The lyric remind me just how smart Shirley is: "They lay all their dreams on you. They let you in and you start to believe you're soft as a miracle. Unfurled, I was new and unfurled..."
Sex on wheels alert: American TV star Nathan Fillion back in the day.
I am worried that Paul Buchanan album is going to be a letdown. It's just him noodling on a piano over 14 songs. Some of the tracks seem more like fragments than songs. Sad recent news that The Blue Nile is truly finished - they just fell slowly apart. It happens.
The incred Rio by Duran Duran turned 30 this week. I remember buying this album to take to a church dance - hey, it was an Episcopal church (they are loose). It was such a glamorous packages and the songs are still fresh. I defy any current hot indie band to come up with a song as sharp as New Religion. No clue why Duran take such stick from hater hipsters? Regardless, snotty Quietus did a nice piece on them.
Sara Bareilles has a new EP out on May 22. Produced by Ben Folds! It's a concise 5 songs and it's called Once Upon Another Time. Get A FREE track, Stay, on her site.
I am still playing Marina and The Diamond's superb Electra Heart album. Right now it is the album to beat for top spot in 2012. My fave songs are Hypocrates, Sex Yeah, Valley Of The Dolls, Radioactive and Starring Role, but there isn't one duff track on it. I also have a tumblr tag with the amazing photos she's released from the project.
Speaking of tumblr, here are some recent highlights from my tumblr kicky&fresh:
Madonna shuffling on Lady Gaga's back
Florence at the Met Gala looking like a lacey bridal cake
Babydaddy and Jake Shears ready for action on the cover of GT
The rudest/funniest post I've reblogged in recent days
One Direction worried about touching male bulges
Excellent Causing A Commotion remix and super rare Madge pic
Finally, if your workspace is too quiet this week, check out my Music Player tag. Lots of faves old and new.
And follow me on twitter so you can talk smack at me all day long.
Labels: mixtape
Alpines have followed up their monolithic Fall '11 single Cocoon with an... imperial?... new song, Empire. It chimes and it pounds and it swoops. Cannot wait for an album from these two.
Alpines are Bob Matthews and Catherine Pockson, based in London. The single is officially out June 11. Until then, they have a great, arty blog. If you've forgotten the epic Cocoon, here it is.
When the iconic Beth Ditto released her dance EP last summer, there was a collective wail of "more please." Ditto and her band, Gossip, have come through with the aptly titled A Joyful Noise. Producer Brian Higgins (Xenomania/ Girls Aloud) takes the band's melodic rock and sprays it with a sleek disco sheen. It's the sound of a band coming into its own.
UPDATE: UK fans can stream the album NOW at The Guardian (and on mobile)
A joyful track by track of what to expect:
1 Melody Emergency Of all the songs on Noise, this has the strongest link to the band's rock/punk past. [Shameless boast alert:] And yes, bitchez, the producer Brian Higgins played me this himself in his studio back in November 2011. Three snaps, z formation. The whole time I was at Xeno HQ, I kept hearing Beth's vocals floating through the house. No joke, it was an amazing day.
1 Perfect World, the first single, literally glistens with twilight synths. It's a surprising - and moving - choice of single because it's neither the soul-influenced rock of Gossip's past nor is it Ditto's minimalist dance music. This is mature, dark pop with an emotional core. Stream it here
3 Get A Job opens with a slayer chant: "I’d love to stay and party, but I gotta go to work!" That is all you need to know about this standout. Drag queens rejoice.
4 Move In The Right Direction If Melody Emergency is the most classically Gossip track, this sleek disco number is the most redolent of its producer's hand. Neither he nor the band may agree, but I think you could, quite literally, weld Girls Aloud's vocals to this one, it's that Xenomania.
5 Casualties Of War reminds me of Debbie Harry's softer solo tracks. In fact, the whole album has a bit of Harry influence in its pop variety. In this case, spare balladry, carried by Ditto's cooling vocals. No drama here, just [melancholic] honesty. "I'm doing well. I'm fighting tears, you couldn't tell. I'm not as strong as you thought I was."
6 Into The Wild Bass heavy mid-tempo carried by a strong vocal. "You want me to be honest.... and I quickly became your worst fear." This is not a happy affair, but the song itself is a real grower. "We'll self destruct together. It's all over now."
7 Get Lost Major highlight. It starts deceptively (sort of Supremes retro) before a big-ass 90's house-keyboard chorus lifts it off. Get Lost will sound best in your convertible this July.
8 Involved The backing track has a militaristic feel, but what leaps out to me is the lyrical hook: "I'm not in love with you, I'm just involved with you." Can her words be trusted? Maybe not: "You were on my mind 99% of the time."
9 Horns A bit of fuzzy guitar on this funk pop groove. Xenomania never gilds the lily: it's characteristic of their production to hear a brilliant idea used just once or for a few seconds. The horns of the title are laced into the chorus, but it's not trumpet overkill. This one'll sound great next to Gossip oldies at live shows.
10 I Won't Play More bass-y grooves and some very eighties synths on the pre-chorus (or is that the first chorus? It's Xenomania, after all) followed by a crunching bigger chorus. "I gave you so many chances, but you screwed with my love." Again with the Xeno economy: the wicked cool final seconds fade out too soon.
11 Love In A Foreign Place A Joyful Noise ends on a high note with this slammer. Slow burn verses and a pounding chorus. A meet-your-lover-on-vacation track, in case you didn't guess from the title. A great conclusion. Play this LOUD.
Last word:
The most pop moment Gossip's ever had. Smooth and fizzy and always emotional, thanks to Beth Ditto's gorgeous wailing. One quibble: the album cover neither speaks to the music - this isn't a Manson album! - nor does it beg for sales. It's creepy. There's always something edgy that keeps them on the indie side and this image is it.
And the first video, Perfect World:
Labels: Beth Ditto, review
David's Lyre is the professional moniker of Paul Dixon from Manchester, UK. He's been releasing music for the past 18 months, but finally put out a sublime debut album, Picture Of Our Youth, in February. Vocally, he reminds me a bit of (a more palatable) Dr Robert from Blow Monkeys, but the sound would fit right in with Patrick Wolf and even, at times, groups likes Camera Obscura. Some of the tracks have an 80's Scottish pop feel (English Roses), while others (Heartbeat) are totally in the now. It's a really accomplished, elegant debut record.
Before you get excited, this story has a fucked up twist: Dixon launched the album with the news that he was over the whole project and moving on. The major label experience had, it seems, crushed him and he wants to start fresh. So be it, but I hate planned obsolescence. In this staccato era, when we're pushed either patronizing shite from labels or indie bedsit fuckery, I want people to hear and love good music.
You can stream the album at soundcloud, but here are some of the highlights:
Picture Of Our Youth is out now on iTunes or you can pay what you wish for it on Bandcamp. Just pay him something. I did.
Labels: David's Lyre
Unashamed Desire is the first single from Missy Higgins' new album, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle, out June 1. The video above is stunning; it's thrilling to see artists freed of what should be a constriction (low budgets) to do something truly artistic.
The song itself is a creeper. The first time you hear it, it's... good. And then on repeated plays it pops and pops and builds until it finally flattens you. The lyric on the middle eight is like a manifesto:
We get one sweet moment in the arms of youth
I don't wanna waste time holding down the truth
I got everything to win and only pain to lose
This is my
Unashamed desire
Amazing.
Missy's greatest previous achievement, in my opinion, is one of the most heartbreaking songs of the last ten years, Where I Stood. Right up there with Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me, if from a different point of view.
You can download the song for free as a .wav file via Soundcloud now. It's also on iTunes in many countries...
Labels: Missy Higgins
This is what happens when two breathless [Mahoney] Madonna fans survive the release of her new album and live to tell about it. Richard Chapman is my longtime friend who lives in London and is nothing if not erudite on the subject of The Queen. Get a cup of tea - we go deep.
XO [in DC, April 2, 2012]: So Richard, you have lived with MDNA for a week...
Richard [in, randomly, Tokyo]: I have and I have a relationship with it a bit like members of my family: some I love and hang out with constantly, some I would really rather I only saw once a year
XO: yes! I don't speak to Best Friend and Some Girls is a prodigal child
Richard: and Bday Song should be seen and not heard
XO: Bday Song is being put up for adoption by some terrible artist
Richard: Shall we be the A&R man that finally stood up to her?
XO: We're looking at you, Guy Oseary.
Richard: Shall we do a Fantasy MDNA?
XO: Yes! It's here we begin our story. I think I'm Addicted is a better opener than Girl Gone Wild.
Richard: Amen. It reminds me of something like Amazing off Music. It is very French and has some of her best and spikiest lyrics on this album.
XO: That early lyric about the "all of the letters pushed to the front of my mouth" is great AND SHE WROTE IT. And of course, I'm a dick dick dick
Richard: I am a fan of songs with unusual structures that build and build and this certainly does that. There is a great bit at 1.45 where it sounds like the synths from Music
XO: But don't you think the song would be better if it ended with X O L O... N D O N ?
Richard: Exactly. You would be able to finally heed her siren's call
XO: Thank you for your wisdom. I am going to 1:45, the siren synth
Richard: It's a fun moment. I compare Music with this record because it's like this whole album is a riposte to the gooey love on that one
XO: So what is the second song?
Richard: Girl Gone Wild, which seems like a good idea on paper, but the reality is a letdown
XO: Is it - here it comes - reductive? Would it be better with a Stuart Price remix? I mean, EVERYTHING WOULD.
Richard: Yes: Madonna is a girl gone wild, the girl from the midwest who came to New York. Stuart Price was needed here.
XO: She is getting criticism about her use of the word girl, which I think is a load of shit.
Richard: She can be a girl. Who cares? It doesn't bother me. Jane Fonda can be a girl if she wants, you know?
XO: Yes, that is what a woman can choose to do.
Richard: Stuart Price would have taken this bland song and given it a shot in the arm. It sounds like a song that could have been sent to Britney, who would have done her vocal gurning and turned it into something.
XO: Vocal gurning? Let's explore this!
Richard: That face that people on coke make... the way Britney makes words sound all weird and stretched. I thought that could have made GGW good, as opposed to Madge's vocal which sounds bad, but more as a fault of the production in my book. She just phones it in.
XO: Well, Britney could have had a Girl Gone Wild video where she attacked cars with an umbrella. A Statement. Strong Britney!
Richard: Britney off the meds!
XO: Not so great for track #2. I think the song is better than the recording, if that makes sense. I sound like a producer. But Richard, I love thee! What is the third tune on our version?
Richard: Gang Bang. I first heard this and I was completely bemused. What is the point of this strange piece of music?
XO: It's bonkers
Richard: But then I got it: REVENGE FANTASY… and I was all over it
XO: But she needed this crazy song - she needed to push the boat out.
Richard: Something completely doolally
XO: Doolally? What?
Richard: Crazy
XO: How Hugh Grant of you
Richard: Slightly loopy
XO: I get it, luv.
Richard: I hope Quentin did get the memo. He's a Madonna fan
XO: Tarantino will do it!
Richard: Anyway, this is BATSHIT CRAZY
XO: Supposedly she did it in one take. Came up with it on the spot. Okay, our fourth song is Turn Up The Radio. Sunday Girl Jade wrote it.
Richard: Bravo Jade. I hope she can afford to move out of her bedsit on the back of that
XO: You are a vicious queen. I think you like this song more than me.
Richard: Yes, this is the moment when I really start to get on board with this album
XO: I LIKE it, but I find the chorus a bit Simple Susie
Richard: That's the point. It's the big 'into the groove moment' of MDNA. It's a wonderful sunny day, windows down pop song
XO: I love the "here I begin my story" bit.
Richard: that's killer, the way the song drops out when she says 'story'
XO: I want remixes up the wazoo
Richard: It's a real "hands in the air" song. Someone else may have written this, but she sounds completely at home, in a way that GGW sounds so annoying and forced
XO: True, yes. I like the keyboard tapping on it. I mean the beat beat beat beat
Richard: It's just a copper bottom great pop song. It drives. By the way, Turn up the Radio: we must mention "til the speakers... BLOW"
XO: [still thinking about the phrase "copper bottom"] YES!
Richard: Incredible moment
XO: Can you imagine it live? It will be HUGE
Richard: The gays in Brazil may never recover. Gay faces melting off. Like a gay nuclear meltdown. Rio FLATTENED.
XO: My gayface melted off and I became straight.
Richard: My genitals melted, turned inside out and I became a woman, all due to the Turn Up The Radio’s breakdown
XO: Monolithic
Richard: THAT is why I think it's a high watermark on this record
XO: So what is the 5th song?
Richard: Give Me All Your Luvin’. What a bland piece of crap.
XO: GAYGASP. Can we just press delete?
Richard: Can we have therapy and repress the memory? Simply put, in your terms, it's Not Worthy. As thin and papery as a napkin.
XO: I already replaced GMAYL with Beautiful Killer so..
Richard: Pretend L U V never happened. Killer is the song that really sounds like a French movie. We are suddenly very happy with the presence of Solveig.
XO: it has the best middle eight on the album. Papa Don't Preach strings!
Richard: Papa strings - a lovely reference there. I don't think anyone but a Frenchman could have made this song.
XO: We know there's' nothing foreign to Madonna about a foreign film
Richard: You wonder if it's a fantasy or about someone she knows. Or what? You just don't know. It makes no sense and I love that.
XO: “Can't really talk with a gun in my mouth.” A quotable line!
Richard: Well, that line makes sense! But I bet Madonna can instruct her maid to make coffee and tap out an email with a gun in her mouth
XO: I have one issue with Beautiful Killer. It is the last line: “You’ll never be Alain Delon.” She gilded the lily there a wee bit
Richard: Urgh
XO: I cringe, but maybe it just needed a snarkier delivery
Richard: It spoils the perfection. And I also hate the gunshot. She does love her sound effects CD, doesn't she?
XO: Guns are a weird theme for the Kabbalah Mama, non?
Richard: BBC Radiophonic Workshop Gunshot no.2
XO: I love that this song is SO Madonna. I don't hear as much Solveig.
Richard: It's true, and her vocals sound much stronger too. Like a Samurai you can handle the heat
XO: haha… a film reference from knowledgeable Madonna
Richard: That is a Delon reference, yes.
XO: Can you imagine the video, if this were done when she did videos?
Richard: I wish it would happen: Black and white film in a Paris café, swirls of smoke and a raincoat with the collar turned up. A washed out Paris at 5.30am.
XO: I'd like the bridge of the song filmed in Technicolor. Okay, what song is next? Do we need a change of pace?
Richard: Someone sound a rave horn! Some Girls
XO: if we must.
Richard: Fake tits and a nasty mood
XO: I don't think this song goes anywhere, Richard.
Richard: I think it's a bit of a mess too
XO: I find it a bit She's Not Me
Richard: There are some fun moments but... yes…
XO: …it’s REDUCTIVE [sips tea]
Richard: Self pity. I like the opening bits and the dirty synths
XO: It has that zippery snakey noise like a Royksopp track. Farty synths, not party synths! Orbit jizzes on this one...
Richard: 1.52 onwards is a bit PSB in the synth loop. It sounds a bit like she was on Skype on this song and the 'new message' noise pops up
XO: We've moved on from You've got mail
Richard: Madonna has male, more like
XO: There is some spoken drivel at the end. What is being said, Richard?
Richard: What is said? 3.13. It sounds like 'I got your fucking point'
XO: Something about fuck me heels on? heels off? I like the way this song ends. But I have a question...does I Fucked Up belong on the proper album?
Richard: I'm of two minds: on the one hand it has such clunky lyrics - someone dial Joe Henry to fix this! – but on the other, it has such a lovely melody. "We could have had a house with a swimming pool"? Didn't she already buy a house with a swimming pool?
XO: Right? Maybe that is an appeal to the 99%?
Richard: And couldn't she have afforded that anyway pre-Guy? Oh yes, Madonna and her 99%
XO: As if she cares. Can we make I'm A Sinner next?
Richard: Yes: because -whoops!- we just pretended Superstar never happened!
XO: Thank GOD. I was afraid you liked it
Richard: Urgh
XO: I thought it might cause a dinner table spat
Richard: It's a crock of shit.
XO: Okay, to me it screams b-side like Supernatural. And youjustknow in the comments for this post someone will scream, “I LOVE SUPERNATURAL!”
Richard: fret not - Lola's vocal debut should have been a b-side. Is she doing some lalas?
XO: oh Lola is doing oh oh oh ooooh
Richard: Back to I'm a Sinner, the successor to Beautiful Stranger, a song I never liked, but this sounds like it is pure 60s pop. And Madonna's on her knees again here.
XO: She feels best there, Dickie, don't you?
Richard: A familiar pose for all of us, I'm sure
XO: No comment [sips tea]
Richard: I just imagine Madonna multi-tasking during sex
XO: Texting perhaps? Lifting those little hand weights?
Richard: On all fours typing angry emails to her concierge
XO: "Get these cheap sheets off this bed NOW"
Richard: Or furious memos to Liz Rosenberg about how the airbrushing is NOT ENOUGH
XO: Don't start on the airbrushing! Anyway, MDNA had to squeeze her own balls for this one vocally. I don't mind the self referencing on this song either.
Richard: This is fine: it's her album; it does feel like she wrote this. It’s like the song Girl Gone Wild needed to be. It's saying the same thing, but stuffed thick with Catholicism.
XO: This one has Jean Baptiste [co-writer] singing.
Richard: Yes, Jean Baptiste - why couldn't he have done the Benassi tracks?
XO: I too wish she'd done more with Jean Baptiste [reference to Kelis’s Flesh Tone LP]
Richard: Benny Benassi is a relic, Jean Baptiste is where it's at
XO: Kelis probably said "Don't do it, JB!" Kelis could probably beat M up
Richard: I dunno, I think it would be a pretty fair fight
XO: Guess who produced Brave by Kelis?
Richard: Benassi
XO: yep!
Richard: So that's why he's here. The Kelis record is the one that made Madonna need to make music again, not Gaga
XO: Baptiste did her Song For The Baby
Richard: Yes, I would have had JB and Orbit. Farewell Solveig and Benny
XO: I will let her have Solveig and just fill in the gaps. I just think Baptiste is deeper than Solveig. [sigh] What song is next for our version of MDNA?
Richard: Do we discuss I Don't Give A?
XO: Yes, OMG, a stone classic.
Richard: ...because this is great
XO: I don't give a fu huh huh huh
Richard: This is the REAL American Life, you know?
XO: The speed of the rap covers up the wonk lyrics. But it does have one of the LP's most classic moment: [Simultaneously]
XO: BABY JESUS ON THE STAIRS!
Richard: Baby David on the stairs. Sorry! Jesus!
XO: I bet he gets in her way. MOVE PLEASE, DAVID, NOW.
Richard: Baby Mercy on the stairs! But do you think baby Jesus on the stairs is in fact a reference to Jesus Luz?! I just thought that.
XO: Why didn't I think of that? Youjustknow some older friend called Jesus Luz "Baby Jesus."
Richard: I think this song is the most ironic on the record: “and if it was a failure, I don't give a"
XO: She cares. Nicki too… I like this rap.
Richard: "You can't get these shoes at the Aldo" I love that. The rap actually means something and pertains to the song, which in rent-a-rapper terms is rare as hen's teeth. But I HATE the “There’s only one queen and that's Madonna. Bitch."
XO: Oh, I like that, but it seems very directed at youknowwho.
Richard: Yes, Gaga who? I don't feel her threat or presence here at all, which is very interesting. Overall, this album is an assertion she's still here, not trying to pick off the competition still here, still relevant
XO: Exactly. So the end of Don’t Give A is the “live show opener or closer” coda. I call it The Game Of Thrones moment.
Richard: It's got swagger and then an EPIC ENDING OF NOTE. Choral, crazed. In the show, Madonna will have left the stage. It will be extended to 6 minutes while she changes, dancers will dance meaningfully.
XO: This alone gives the album an extra star. Everyone slayed.
Richard: Gays will embrace and weep
XO: Yep another gay fantasia moment. Straight men will go to the restroom and get on their knees after that song.
Richard: it's a major moment
XO: What is next?
Richard: Love Spent, the album's high water mark. My biggest complaint on this one is that it is too short
XO: People who don't like this song might be like Sarah Palin followers
Richard: How so?
XO: I JUST DON'T GET THEM. But I am all about love, so... anyway, I think we were all thrown by the clip and then finally hearing this sort of two part song. Orbit has so many ideas.
Richard: It really is so full of quirk and fun
XO: She said the banjo was his choice
Richard: Bravo Bubbles [aka William Orbit]
XO: See, yes, but there is something actually transcendent too. This song has layers
Richard: It is rich and dense
XO: Hold me till there's nothing left. Gorgeous
Richard: That is a wonderful lyric moment
XO: The vocals are stunning even with some tricks
Richard: I love how the money metaphor continues throughout and you suddenly realise she's wrung out. At 2:14 it suddenly escalates and whooshes and I roll around screaming.
XO: Yes! And then we have the, as BILLY BUBBLES SAID TO ME, "fireworks" at 2:58 which make me run around my house screaming. Did I tell you that William Orbit, as I hinted above, tweeted me about my review, unprompted?
Richard: No!! What did he say?
XO: Look it up [sips tea] https://twitter.com/#!/WilliamOrbit/status/185016131239677952
Richard: I love how chatty he is. A true English eccentric. I think it's wonderful that Madonna adores him. Her enthusiasm is unbridled.
XO: Yes, I think she appreciates his musicality and knows that it brings that out of her too. He thinks she is a genius.
Richard: In a review in the Observer, they said "the final three songs sound like part of a better, more realised project" I think that's a bit unfair
XO: Hmmmm
Richard: but equally there are moments when I feel like this is Madonna's version of Kylie's X
XO: I think these songs sound like another album
Richard: Does it all hang together?
XO: I'm not sure
Richard: Or is it a "greatest hits" record by all these different producers
XO: Time will tell us that. Here is the deal: I think that the last 3 songs represent what people really wanted from her
Richard: What WE wanted from her
XO: But that kind of album does not necessarily play live so well
Richard: Agreed
XO: Her true power is in these songs
Richard: For every Love Spent, you need a Turn up the Radio
XO: Fair enough. So what about Masterpiece? It WORKS on the album! Who knew?!
Richard: Well I completely agree. I heard it last December
XO: Of course! At the WE premiere
Richard: yes - that's when I fell for Madonna again. She was charming and funny and full of enthusiasm. And I think a lot of that came from making this record
XO: She was great on the Larry Flick interview too. So into the music
Richard: GREAT moment that
XO: Infectious
Richard: She never gets asked about music, only about underwear or silly rumours, and then when someonesays "tell us about the album," she says, "What do you want to know?" - which is irritating, but Larry really pushed her
XO: Did she do that with him?
Richard: No, she did that to Jay Leno in January
XO: She allowed Larry's enthusiasm to affect her. I think there is often a wall. To her detriment.
Richard: Agreed. So Masterpiece is a gentle island on the album. the lyrics seem soft and warm
XO: Nothing's indestructible is a key line. I DO kind of wish it had more epic strings at the end
Richard: I agree. But then again it is just a simple song. In the context of the other divorce songs on this record, it suddenly has added resonance. "Hold on to me like there's nothing left" then her lover is an icy portrait on a wall
XO: Can we end our MDNA with Falling Free? One of her most esoteric songs and yet not|
Richard: the best lyrics on the album here: and Joe Henry is to be thanked for that
XO: Yes, bless him
Richard: they are simple but resonant
XO: You know what line lays me flat? The last one. Because that is where she really shares her wisdom. “When I let loose the need to know, we’re both free, free to go.” So sad.
Richard: I love "A hairline break that's taking hold" at the beginning. Very Ray Of Light, those pulsing synths. Drowned World returns. “And what you take is just enough / And what you give is what I love" - wonderful words
XO: I think this song is a grower; it’s going to hit people over time, not right away. This is also one of the smartest songs structurally, melodically.
Richard: It is pay dirt musically on this record
XO: Did you notice the vocal at the end after the strings? They are much rawer, lower and slower. #chills
Richard: The slowdown is incredible. This is what I wanted from this record. It follows other great "album end songs" in her catalogue, particularly Gone and Easy Ride.
XO: I wanted more of this. Sigh.
Richard: So overall, do we think this is a good album or a playlist with epic moments?
XO: I'd say it is a "good" album in the Bedtime Stories sense. Meaning not terribly cohesive, but some of it will age well. Some of the tracks, especially a few of the "bonuses," are ripe shit. It's not in her top albums.
Richard: Well exactly. I don't know if I like the notion of these bonus songs. It's like the purity of an album is diluted with this ragbag of other songs
XO: I agree, but we can at least make our own lists
Richard: Yes, but we shouldn't have to: her A&R people should be doing that. We need to admit something here: We like MDNA, but Madonna's musical challengers are Kelis and Robyn
XO: Those two women are really driving the genre Madonna created
Richard: My key question is: is MDNA better than Flesh Tone or Body Talk?
XO: NO NO NO
Richard: No, It is not
XO: Madge doesn't have a Dancing On My Own or Hang With Me on MDNA
Richard: and Robyn's vocal is in another league, ditto Kelis
XO: Well, hmmm, both their voices are 1) very unique and 2) younger, therefore perhaps stronger naturally
Richard: true
XO: And the real question is this: What will those two women do for their 12th albums? I doubt they will get there.
Richard: This is very valid. And this is Madonna's 13th if we include I'm Breathless (and I do)
XO: I do not!
Richard: Ok, we will diverge there
XO: What Can You Lose, only the blues.... I had a serious moment with that song last fall! Played it for like 5 days
Richard: Madge Stans unite. What are our key takings from this? I think her next album will be The One and I think it will come within 2 years. I think she has the taste for it again
XO: I have to say that despite this being a strong record, I am not sure she fully realized her current "voice" until maybe it was late in the game.
Richard: Or the core message she wanted to make
XO: Right. It seems like she started with a party record – the usual "I fancy dancing"
Richard: - then she got angry
XO: Yes!
Richard: and then Orbit got involved
XO: Realized again that music brought out her inner feelings
Richard: Right - that it's not all about dancing. She can go really deep
XO: As she gets older, I hope we'll get more of that. Slate said her power is on the dancefloor, but I think if that were true, she'd be long gone from our hearts.
Richard: Agree: and it will be less about booking the tour dates, and more about a piece of art and MDNA feels like a bit of both. It's the antithesis and endgame to the emotion and crazy love for Guy Ritchie she felt and emotes on Music and American Life. Somehow this should be the album of heartbreak and devastation, but she got so caught up with wanting to make a disco record she forgot she should let that take the album to the place it needed to go emotionally. That is the project I wish she would do next.
XO: Right! This is not just a sentimental attachment to Madonna; it is people looking to her to reflect something more emotional they need to hear
Richard: She went to the party, got into a big fight and went home to cry.
XO: Falling Free is the "I am still awake at sunrise" song when the anger has turned into sadness
Richard: That's what MDNA is to me. And you know what, who hasn't done that? That's why I like this album. It feels like a bad night out with a great soundtrack. MDNA: a bad trip but with great music.
